


Back in the Saddle ¹

by EnemyMine



Series: Wants, needs and realities [10]
Category: JAG, NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Episode Related, Episode: s06e08 Cloak, Episode: s06e09 Dagger, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Homosexual Relationship, M/M, POV Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-26 23:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9928634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnemyMine/pseuds/EnemyMine
Summary: After Michelle Lee confessed to being blackmailed, an absend friend brings in an outside force to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Well, look at that. One case of stomach flu and I am able to deliver another installment. Just when I thought I would take an indefinite leave of absence.  
> (Edited the end notes, because obviously I didn't copy +paste everything. Sorry.)  
>  __________________________________________________________
> 
> The M/M is not explicit or even outright confirmed. But if that is generally not your cup of coffee, you should go and read something else.

It has been a while since he had walked these orange halls. He couldn't honestly say he had missed them. Thankfully his usual “digs” at headquarters had been of a more sophisticated style.  
But those he hadn't seen in a while either. 

Former U.S. Navy commander Harmon Rabb Jr. of the Judge Advocate General Corps had not been to Washington D.C. since he had been finally granted permanent custody of Mattie from her alcoholic father. Which had been just a few short months after Sarah had won the coin toss that had him resign his commission in favor of her new posting at Joint Legal Forces in San Diego.  
He was Captain for about a hot minute, so he was more okay with that. At least he finally had gotten the girl. It's not like being the husband of Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie was not akin to a full time job. The best job he ever had, apart from flying, building up his own firm and being a father to Mattie, if someone would bother to ask him.  
Their friends and former colleagues like Bud and Harriet had flown out to California a couple of times for a visit, so it was not like he had just up and left everything behind. He had simply made a new start, just like fate had wanted for the two of them.

But now he was back in D.C. and the chaos that was the Navy Yard. In his opinion Falls Church would always beat out the hectic of the nation's capitol. But Harm was not here to compare the sights. He was here in official capacity as a legal adviser to the defense. Who was he to decline if DiNozzo of all people called in one of his favors?

A lot of people would be surprise to hear about that. They would never expect Harmon Rabb to owe Anthony DiNozzo. After all wasn't he one of those Navy Cops who nearly got him innocently prosecuted for murder?  
Those people always forgot that it was DiNozzo's hard work, which got him of the hook in the end. Gibbs might have been the one to change course during the court martial, but all the work was done, coordinated and compiled into irrefutable evidence towards his innocence by Gibbs' second.  
That's why he owed him. And DiNozzo really could have asked for worse.

Harm was just to offer legal counsel to the official civilian defense lawyer, also partially paid for by the special agent.  
Just to make sure all “I”s were dotted and “T”s were crossed, or so the younger man had told him on the phone during their brief conversation. In DiNozzo speak akin to: “Make sure every road is traveled and she gets out scot-free!”

Should under normal circumstances not be too hard considering the facts. So far none of Special Agent Lee's actions could be considered as actually committing treasonous acts without stretching yourself very, very thin while turning sideways and squint.  
At the point Lee had turned herself in, she had only received the first of what were sure to be more phone calls by a contact from the Pentagon. A call she had only taken under duress.  
A jury surely couldn't find fault in a woman trying to save her kid-sister from her kidnappers by playing along with their schemes. In any other cases of similar matter it would not even make its way into court, because the DA's office would refuse to prosecute.

But this case could and probably would be constructed as conspiracy to commit treason at all cost and as such was bound to face harsher prosecution for the simple matter of national security. It also involved a Naval Criminal Investigative Service who just barely struggled to leave one ginormous mess with potential international consequences behind and simply could not afford to be seen as weak and forgiving.

As DiNozzo has put it so eloquently: “She's screwed either way. Lee did the right thing but a minute too late and they will want her head on a platter for it, just to ascertain their dominance. Forgetting what she actually saved them from in the first place. Either way the Pentagon and SecNav will have her positioned as a scapegoat. Harm, you need to make sure, she'll at least will be able to have a civilian career afterwards.”

That's DiNozzo for you alright. Agent Lee was his probationary agent for a couple of months, and even from another continent he will make sure she'll be as alright as she can be.  
Because of course that damn bastard feels responsible for the whole damn mess. Like leaving the Navy Yard for another post would somehow necessarily result in the plethora of questionable choices by various people revealed.  
Well, when put that way… DiNozzo has that kind of personality that kind of works like glue for everyone else around him. Keeps groups of people together that realistically should not be able to coexist. Still not enough reason for him to feel responsible for their misdemeanors.

Thankfully the NCIS had at least found the missing sister. Traumatized, but otherwise unharmed. Obviously Agent Lee was currently suspended pending charges which was SOP ², but not detained, so the sisters could at least spend time together to heal from the ordeal.

From what Harm's reconnaissance had been able to glean, Special Agent Gibbs was trying to stir up trouble in Agent Lee's direction.  
That would have been a matter of serious concern, if this had all happened just a couple of years earlier. The Gibbs Harm knew, from personal experience and through scuttlebutt, although not a fan of the usual elbow rubbing in DC, had a lot of sway nonetheless. But these times were behind them.  
Scuttlebutt said Gibbs' every move was nowadays monitored by the upper echelon so he could not superimpose his bias onto cases. Said that Gibbs had become unmanageable ever since DiNozzo had made off to Spain. Truthfully said a lot of things just about that, speculations that might have risked more than just the careers, but the lives of either of them too, if they were lesser men and not currently on different continents.  
DADT ³ was there for a reason, no matter your stance on the matter.

Even with Gibbs and DiNozzo being civilian personnel in their position as agents of NCIS, they still had to interact by nature of their line of work with the Marine and Navy branch of the armed forces, the occasional cross-cases with other branches notwithstanding. Although Gibbs by himself was a more complicated matter from what Harm remembered. He still was enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve, therefore was still subjected to the same standards and regulations as his active fellows under certain conditions.  
No matter what a nasty rumor to have going around.

Either way Harm could not quite grasp what the agent's agenda might be in bringing Agent Lee down hard.  
There was no personal gain to be had. They were barely acquainted with each other and parts of different departments. The only connection was that Agent Lee has been part of the MCRT under the supervision of DiNozzo and as the younger man had laughingly stated “a lawyer”, as if that explained anything.

Well, lawyers Harm could work with. As long as Lee did not try to defend her own case against the advice of her defense counsel.  
From some rudimentary investigation Harm was happy to figure that he had already found a very good character witness for the defense in Director Granger. He was the one privy to Lee's initial confession, but also someone who knew exactly what was at stake here and had, despite SecNav's insistence to the contrary, still held pretty firm on his stance of going easy on his agent. 

Tough case, but they might actually be able to win this one. And if Lee was really as promising as DiNozzo had made her out to be, who knows, maybe he could persuade to head west. Say San Diego.  
He had it on very good authority that a law firm there might be hiring.

**Author's Note:**

> ¹ Title of JAG s09e06:  
> Rabb was fired from his “career” at the CIA, has a short stint as a crop duster and finally gets his commission reinstated because his replacement officer was a fraud. Thought it was a fitting title for this installment.
> 
> ² SOP – Standard Operating Procedure
> 
> ³ DADT - “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”-policy, prohibiting queer service members of the armed forces to speak in any way or form about heir sexual orientation and relations.  
> “The act specified that service members who disclose that they are homosexual or engage in homosexual conduct should be separated (discharged) except when a service member's conduct was "for the purpose of avoiding or terminating military service" or when it "would not be in the best interest of the armed forces" “ (Wikipedia excerpt)  
> \- DADT came into effect in 1993 and was not repealed until 2011.
> 
> 4 short introduction to Harmon Rabb Jr:  
> \- main character on JAG  
> \- born in 1963  
> \- originally Navy pilot, but troubles with his night-vision forced him to head for a desk  
> \- attended Georgetown University Law Center and joined JAG  
> \- became pretty much the prodigy (finest attorney and officer)  
> \- a lot of dramatic stuff ensues (long thought dead father turns out alive, for a while, then dead but with another son, and of course in Russia; CIA messes with things; night-vision might not actually be the problem and Harm saves the day, a pilot and millions worth of equipment...)  
> \- a lot of “will they, won't they” with Mac (Sarah's nickname) over the course of 9 years.
> 
> a bit of relevant time-frame (more a memo for myself):  
> ca. April, 22nd – May, 5th 2003  
> \- NCIS backdoor pilots “Ice queen” and “Meltdown” (JAG s08e20, s08e21) under investigation/prosecuted for allegedly killing Lt. Singer, acquitted due to having Gibbs convinced of his innocence, with DiNozzo providing evidence
> 
> May, 2003 - October 24th, 2003  
> \- briefly joins CIA
> 
> October 31st, 2003  
> \- crop duster pilot for Grace Aviation, where he meets Mattie (practically his boss in the absence of her father)
> 
> November 7th, 2003 – April 28nd, 2005  
> \- JAG officer out of JAG headquarters, Falls Church/Virginia
> 
> April 29th, 2005  
> \- according to canon may have or may have not resigned commission or became Force Judge Advocate at Naval Forces Europe in London/UK  
>  \- for the sake of this fic, he lost the coin toss, resigned and moved with Sarah to San Diego


End file.
